It is common practice in the electronics industry to mount an integrated circuit (IC) in a chip carrier in the form of a square body of plastic insulating material having outwardly facing side surfaces on which are provided contact areas. Conductors contained in the insulating body extend from the contact areas to the IC chip which is imbedded in the body.
In order to connect the contact areas on the IC chip carrier to conductors on a substrate such as a circuit board, a specialized type of connector referred to as a chip carrier socket is used. The chip carrier socket comprises an insulating housing, which is usually square, having a recess therein which is dimensioned to receive the IC chip carrier. Terminals are mounted in the housing in surrounding relationship to the recess and have contact portions which engage the contact areas of the chip carrier. The terminals extend beyond one face of the housing and are soldered to conductors on the substrate. The present trend in the electronics industry is to make these soldered connections by "surface mount" techniques in which the edges of the terminals are soldered directly to the adjacent surface of the substrate. Surface mounting techniques are to a large extent replacing the previous method of providing posts on the terminals which extend through the substrate and are soldered to conductors on the underside thereof.
The socket housing is usually designed such that the cavities therein which receive the terminals extend entirely through the housing from the lower face (the face adjacent to the substrate) to the upper face thereof. It is possible, therefore, to remove the housing from the terminals by merely pulling upwardly on the housing. However, removal of the housing in this manner can damage the soldered connections between the terminals and the substrate, particularly if the terminals are connected to the substrate by surface mounting techniques. The terminals usually have a relatively tight interference fit in the cavities in the housing and if the housing is pulled upwardly, the terminals will be stressed in tension and the soldered joints will therefore be stressed and may be broken.
The present invention is accordingly directed to the achievement of a tool and method which will permit removal of a chip carrier socket housing from its associated terminals without damage to the terminals so that the housing can be reassembled to the terminals at a later time.